A/N:
Thanks for dropping on by again, and thank you Deadly-Bagel for being my beta-reading! And, of course, a special thank you if you got something to say and drop a line in either a comment or PM. This community is packed with creativity and I always enjoy hearing your thoughts. Well, not that I can hear your thoughts as if I'm a dragon whisperer, but ya know what I mean. (-:

Oh, btw, I had meant to keep a 1-week posting schedule, but I may have to stretch it out for 2 weeks for a couple chapters.

Toothlessgolfer and Dragonrider's Fury, as you suspected, here's how the villagers take the news. Yeah, this is a lotta fun to write; I'm even getting some chuckles from my beta reader.

TheWhisperingWarrior, I never saw that story before, but I read the first couple chapters and might add it to my reading queue. IMHO, the best HTTYD transformation fic is a tie among "Gift of Wings", "Umbreytingu" and "A Dragon's Gift". Someone tell Anhedral to finish out the story or Toothless will flog him with his tail.

Claymore, I figured we're at least a quarter of the way through.


Facing the Music

Hiccup felt his wife slide off his back as he trotted past the treeline and into the clearing around the village. "Don't wanna give the wrong message," she quietly said to him.

Everyone they passed by or who saw him from afar stopped in their tracks and stared. He knew that his transformation was known by pretty much everyone. Astrid's frustration at the notion that she was the last one in the entire village to learn about what happened was not too far from the truth.

The way they stared, though, was a bit unnerving. He could tell that they were trying to envision little Hiccup in the Night Fury, and it made him feel uneasy. It wasn't just the looks on their faces, but their posture, their smell, and everything about their passive hum that indicated on an instinctive level that tension was in the air. He felt like he was fourteen again, and yet another one of his inventions had literally blown up in his face during a dragon raid, and the villagers were staring at him in disappointment for how such a weak and clumsy failure could manage to make their lives even harder.

"Maybe growling isn't the most diplomatic tactic, Babe," Astrid quietly said.

Hiccup hadn't realized he was doing that. He focused on taking controlled breaths as he nuzzled her shoulder.

{I must admit, the more time I spend in Toothless' body, the more of a genuine appreciation I'm developing for his restraint and self-control.}

"You mean his ability to not maul everyone who dares to look at you funny?"

{Remember back in the forest, when you hugged me and I snarled? It was a struggle to fight the urge to snap at you, and that scared me.}

Astrid took a step away from Hiccup, who wilted at the implication. She sighed and leaned back into his head.

"And our son? I trust your judgment. Do you trust yourself?"

Hiccup softly whined at that. {To be honest, no, I don't. Perhaps I'll be fine, but we should take things slowly and cautiously. I literally cannot imagine what I would do around him.}

Astrid snorted at that. It was a well-known fact among dragon whisperers that, for how amazing dragons could be, imagination, intuition, dreaming, such things were foreign to them.

"Fair enough," she said. "For now, just be yourself. Smile and wave or something."

Hiccup focused on working his face into a broad smile and waved a wing cheerfully at the villagers.

"Ya know," Astrid said thoughtfully, "I'm having a hard time deciding if you look scary or brain dead when you snarl like that."

Hiccup retracted his teeth and adjusted his smile.

A gust of wind caught his left wing with which he was waving at the crowd, pushing hard enough to flip him onto his back.

Astrid sniggered, hiding her mouth behind her hand. "That's adorable. Just walk normally. Imagine what Toothless would do if he wanted to be friendly."

Husband and wife looked at each other and snorted and laughed at that. Toothless never was the most outgoing or hospitable dragon. Granted, he was never hostile towards anyone… unless they hit Hiccup, or threatened him, or insulted or mocked him, or gave him a funny look, or felt disapproval at something he said or did. He was a hit with the children, though whenever they ran around and on him, a casual observer might describe his appearance as "absolutely terrified".

In the end, Hiccup resorted to practicing his gummy smile as he walked as normally as he could – and picking himself up whenever he tripped over his own wings. As he walked down pathways through the village, smooth bedrock under his paws, he paid close attention to the chatter all around.

"So, it's really him?"

"I've heard our chief's gone feral."

"So, ummm, the Night Fury is our new chief?"

"Over my dead body!"

"Maybe he could turn me into a Night Fury?"

"Ha! Yeah, and I'll be your rider. Mush, dragon pony, mush!"

"May the gods have mercy on the next troublemaker he roots out…"

"I heard his wife just delivered a child. Healthy boy."

"Did he turn into a dragon, too?"

"I dunno, boys. Peace with dragons? Sure. Accepting one as our leader, though…"

"Dammit, the fishermen are gonna get everything they want from the chief, now, and leave us in the dust."

"The fishermen… OH! I GET IT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!"

The more Hiccup heard, the more it dawned on him that he was naturally leaning on anything other than hearing their spoken words to feel out the situation. He understood every word his ears picked up, but feeling out their emotional hum and the thoughts they naturally projected when they spoke gave him much more information and felt a lot more certain, betraying the unease behind the humorous facade.

At the moment, everyone was still coming to terms with the situation. There were some naysayers, but they were heard with glazed-over eyes as most people were still digesting what they had learned. To his relief, the overall mood was more curious than hostile. As he walked by a few of the villagers he knew a little better, he padded up and stared at them. They immediately averted their eyes, lacking the boldness to say anything to his face.

"I can certainly see a bit of Toothless rolling around in there," Astrid said. "You've been getting better since you became chief and we married, but I don't think I've ever seen you stare someone down quite like that."

Hiccup grunted noncommittally at that. It meant nothing. Everyone was just acting weird. They were Vikings, and this was a change, so their natural reaction would be to deny or reject it, of course.

The dragons were hardly phased by what happened to their alpha and his rider. They knew that Hiccup and Toothless saved them from the Red Death and Drago's Bewilderbeast, and with how vehemently Toothless made it clear that his rider deserved as much credit as himself, the dragons were content. They saw the mind more than the body when relating to an individual, so they still treated Hiccup the same no matter what body he occupied.

As Hiccup and Astrid walked up to their home, Astrid said, "By the way, once I get our son in my arms again, you're going to sniff out Tuffnut, tackle him, and set his arse on fire."

Hiccup gave her an affronted look, and in every way except orally, he shouted {Why?!}

"He left me in the dark. There he was, dancing with you and helping you and Toothless, but when I come along, ohhhh, he just dashes out and leaves me to pick up the pieces."

{It's not his fault. I won't do it. Can you blame him for fearing your ire.}

Astrid casually hefted her ax with a shrug. "That's the gentler option. I'll just have to go with the alternative."

Hiccup gulped at the feral smirk on her face.

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Astrid lifted the latch and leaned back to swing the door to their house open and stepped in. Valka was sitting on a stool, gently rocking the baby in her arms, and she looked up with a very content smile. Toothless was sitting on the floor, feet digging in as he gently growled, pulling on one end of a rope with all his might in a game of tug of war with–

"Speak of the devil!" Astrid hissed.

"BAW-GAWK!" Tuffnut shot to his feet with the look of a rabbit fleeing from a wolf. He dropped the rope – sending Toothless falling back into the wall – ran for the entrance, twisted around Astrid, rolled under a swipe of her arm, bumped his head on the door, grunted at a kick from her, and finally scampered out.

"There he is! Go get him, Hiccup!" Astrid shouted, pointing.

Hiccup turned around and leaped off into a sprint… and then tumbled over to sprawl out on his back. From his upside-down position, he could see Astrid walk up to stand over his head.

"You did that on purpose," she said.

Hiccup huffed and rolled to his paws. His look of relief and frustration indicated that it was only partially on purpose.

As they both walked inside, they saw Toothless curled on the floor, rubbing the back of his head.

"I hurt head," he moaned.

"I hurt my head," Valka automatically corrected without even looking up from the child.

"I hurt my head," Toothless repeated just as piteously as the first time.

"Perfect!" Valka crowed. "You're a blur for how fast you're improving. And your head is fine. Barely bumped the wall."

Astrid stared at the young man. "Toothless?"

Toothless sat upright and looked at Astrid with a goofy smile. "Zealot!" He then grabbed one end of the rope and held it out. "Play!"

Astrid stared blankly, but Valka handed her baby over and sat down to pick up the other end of the rope.

"Yes!" Toothless exclaimed as he started tugging with all his might.

"What…" Astrid slowly drawled out.

"I've been working with him to practice speaking, but he's most excited about being able to grab things," Valka grunted as she pulled back against Toothless. "And with how quick he'd jump at the chance to fight someone…"

Astrid chuckled. Toothless thrashed the rope back and forth in a parody of how he'd thrash his prey after catching it in his maw, but Valka used that opportunity of his loosened grip to yank the rope free.

"OW!" Toothless yelped as he patted his hand on the floor. "Rope hurt hand!"

"It's called rope burn," Valka said. "For a better grip, wrap the rope around your wrist, then double back through your fingers again." She demonstrated with her end of the rope. Toothless grinned as he seized his end and clumsily attempted the same, tongue sticking out in concentration. After much grunting and growling - and coughing at the sore throat that produced - he finally got it figured out.

"Play!"

He tugged the rope back and Valka grunted, "You're stronger than you look, Hiccup. Err, Toothless. Well, you know what I mean."

Astrid knew exactly what she meant. A fishbone Hiccup was, but the time he spent in the forge had developed his core strength so he could handle the heavy lifting if he held things close to his stomach. As flimsy as he appeared outwardly, he actually managed to carry Astrid to their bed on their wedding night, much to her astonishment. He couldn't remove his prosthetic from his leg fast enough with the strain that little stunt put on his stump.

Hiccup purred at the compliment, yelped in surprise at himself, then purred again experimentally.

"Aww, that's so adorable, Toothless, playing tug of war like that," Astrid said tauntingly. "We could stick you with the children and you'd fit right in."

Toothless stopped and looked up at her. His grip on the rope loosened, but Valka mercifully didn't take advantage of the distraction. He let go, worked his way to his feet, and took an unsteady step to stand right in front of Astrid, practically nose-to-nose. Astrid shifted uneasily, instinctively placing herself between him and her child, but she made herself meet his stare.

For a tense moment, nobody moved and the air seemed frozen with tension. Then Toothless grinned. "You funny, Zealot."

While somehow maintaining an air of regal haughtiness that a cat would display while showing off its latest catch, he crouched down, fell on his butt, picked up the rope, stood up, walked over to Hiccup, held out the rope, and said, "Play?" Hiccup held out a paw in uncertainty, but Toothless rolled his eyes and said, "Not like that. Bite!"

Astrid stared wordlessly as the two pulled against each other, equally matching each other's efforts even though one was so much stronger.

Valka put an arm over Astrid's shoulders and asked, "What's wrong, dear?"

Astrid shook her head. "He's definitely Toothless." It irked her just how unhinged she felt as Toothless stared through her as if he decided that it would be beneath him to even respond to her little jab. She had said that mainly out of frustration at what happened to her husband, but the way he looked down at her – even though he was hardly any taller – made her suddenly feel very primitive and ridiculous for having said that.

It was a very Toothless response whenever someone said something disparaging about him or his rider. He would pad right up to that person, heedless of their sneer or the weapon they were brandishing, and stare at him as if curiously inspecting an interesting bug, wordlessly challenging him to say it again. He would never back down or break eye contact, and the stare-down invariably ended with either the offender backing away awkwardly or a fight that Hiccup would rush in to prevent.

As suddenly as it began, the game of tug-of-war ended with both dragon and rider giving a satisfied huff. Hiccup dropped the rope and Toothless fascinated himself by holding it in both hands, slowly moving it through the air, slithering it over an arm or loosely around his neck, endlessly excited about his mastery over it.

"Good!" Toothless said as he clapped his hands together. He then jumped in surprise at his own gesture, fell to the ground, and picked himself up again. He experimentally clapped again, very slowly at first, then harder, then hard enough to make noise.

"I like!" he said. "Hurt, but like."

"You're learning fast," Valka praised. "We'll want to continue working on speaking, but I can already tell you're more confident on your feet and with your hands."

"Your dragon is showing you up," Astrid said in good humor as she elbowed Hiccup's shoulder.

Hiccup whined. {I'm just afraid to hurt somebody or damage something. I know you jest, but I could accidentally do something for which I would never forgive myself. That time I almost snapped at you really got me thinking.}

At that, Astrid leaned back and turned to place her body between the baby and Hiccup, who flopped down on his belly with a groan.

"Know how feel," Toothless said. "I hurt Firefly. Not try. We only play. He hit me, I hit him. He jump on me... Land-striders…" he drifted off, then clapped with a big grin on his face, "squish!" His face fell into a look of deep contemplation. "Rrrrr, squish… squish…" He clapped his hands again. "Squishy, yes! Learn how not squish Firefly."

Astrid bridled at that. "Excuse me, Mr. Night Fury, I'll have you know–"

Valka waved her off. "Toothless has a good point. We're fortunate that Hiccup has decided to be so cautious. Normally, an errant kick would result in nothing of note, and he could never accidentally burn this house down with a single sneeze, but as a dragon…" she drifted off, the implication obvious.

Hiccup's nostrils twitched and a look of horror crossed his face.

"Yes," Toothless said. "Yes, yes, and yes. Firefly, we go. Learn walk. Run. Fly. Not hurt Zealot. Then you teach me draw!"

With that, ignoring Astrid's heated retort, Toothless walked to the door, and with an expression reminiscent of a man who just won his first Thawfest competition, lifted the latch, pushed the door open, and stepped out into the sunshine… and then tumbled down the two steps to the ground.

"Oof! I hurt my head!"

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Toothless ran like he had never run before - on two legs. Well, one-and-a-half legs, technically. He was starting to get a feel for the balance of bipedal movement; having no tail for balance simply felt strange. Still, even though his left leg was not entirely whole, the design of the prosthetic to allow him to run instead of hobble spoke of Firefly's genius.

In his breathless rush, he could tell that the land-striders nearby were wondering why he was running as fast as he could. However, he was sure that the sight of a certain fuming mad Night Fury hot on his heels was explanation enough. Now, as to why said Night Fury was mad, well, a certain dragon-turned-land-strider may have whacked his sensitive nose with a stick, and that may have stung, and it may have been entirely on purpose.

It all started in harmless innocence. Toothless had picked up a stick, reveling in the wonders of having opposable thumbs and the sensation of feeling every little ripple of its texture. He could move it up and down, in and out, rotate any way he wanted, it was all so fascinating! Then, he imagined – another wonderous novelty – that the stick was a sword.

Astrid was amused by his random thrashing with the stick, so she called out some pointers on how to properly hold and swing it. Once Toothless was able to do so without falling on his face, he came up with a foolproof idea to help Firefly overcome his crippling concern of hurting someone, and that idea required some aggressive stick-to-nose contact to "encourage" him to play.

It would have stung for sure, but it didn't do any actual harm, and Firefly needed to practice running as a dragon. Despite the many advantages that came with a tail for balance, a low frame that moved with stability on four legs, and claws for traction, Firefly was having less success than Toothless at running, and tripped over a wing. Again.

"Careful!" Toothless barked out. "Hurt wing bad no fly. No think when run. Think bad!"

He knew his words were a jumbled mess, but he also knew his rider – err, his dragon – would hear the projected thoughts and understand the meaning. Land-striders could be very clever creatures, but they had a habit of overthinking everything and simply had a hard time accepting things at face value. Sometimes, it worked to Toothless' advantage, like when two land-striders would argue about who had rights to eat a certain turkey leg, and Toothless would do a good deed by removing the source of contention.

This was Firefly's challenge too as he still needed to learn to not think about his body to move around in it. Thinking inhibited the instincts he had, and the instincts were what he needed to allow to take over.

As Firefly was scrambling back to his paws, Toothless whacked him in the nose again and fled from the snarls. The chase resumed with gusto, and after the fifth barrel to be knocked over by a clumsy dragon began to roll down the hill, Toothless suspected that running through the village may not have been the most considerate thing to do.

The chase ended when he felt some undesirable shift where his prosthetic foot met his leg, sending him tumbling to the ground. When a shadow fell over him, instincts tucked his arms and legs in to curl up into a ball. Firefly landed over Toothless, legs straddling him, and a wet tongue lapped at his head.

The dragon suddenly froze. {Are you hurt, Toothless?}

Toothless grinned. "Not hurt. Good, Firefly. You not think so legs move good. Use wings good this time, when you…" he paused, scrabbling for the right word.

{Pounce?}

"Ah, yes! Good wings pounce. Good play!"

{You were right, Toothless. Simply wanting to do something is enough and anything more is a hindrance, but I surprised myself when I licked you. That's not something I do.}

"You dragon," Toothless said; he thought that should have been very obvious by now. "Dragons lick show love clean mark smell."

Both dragon and rider yelped in surprise when Astrid said, "Yeah, well, lick me and there will be trouble." They hadn't realized that their winding chase through the village had looped right back to where it started. They turned to give a coy grin at her and the child she held.

All eyes turned towards the approaching form of a rather ungainly land-strider walking up the hill, singing, "Oh I've got my ax, and I've got my mace, and I love my wife with the ugly face. I'm a Viking through and through!"

Firefly rolled his eyes at the horrendous singing and Toothless rolled around on the ground, pawing at his ears. It was the blacksmith, Firefly's mentor, named Sunset, or Gobber as the land-striders called him. True to his name – the meaningful one that his dragon gave him – he had a knack for encouraging others to forget about their woes of the day and plan for the next… except for when he felt like singing.

"Please tell me you did not come here to serenade us with songs, Gobber," Astrid said.

"Auck!" Gobber spat as he idly twisted the hook on his left arm with the remaining good hand on his right. "It ain't that bad, lassie." He turned to the dragon and rider. "That was actually a test ta see which of ya is Hiccup and Toothless. Still hard ta believe, but I know there ain't nobody who has such an over-the-top melodramatic reaction to ma' singin' as Toothless."

He sang that all the way to the demonic queen's nest! Toothless thought to himself. Again and again and again...

Firefly stood and stared at Gobber, who stared back at him. "Hiccup? That really you?"

He couldn't hold himself back and lunged to hug his mentor. Toothless found great amusement at the sight of the land-strider trying to keep his balance while the dragon leaned up against him. He couldn't hold in a laugh when Gobber's peg leg slipped on the stone and they both crashed to the ground.

"Git off me, ya dirty sod," Gobber groused as they both got up again. "But it is good ta see ya back safe and whole, even if yer…" he drifted off and gestured vaguely to the dragon's body.

Firefly deadpanned at Gobber.

Gobber chuckled. "But by Thor's beard, I've always told ya ta put on some more weight, but ya never were one ta dream small!"

"It's no laughing matter," Astrid said tersely. "How would you like it if the man you loved suddenly turned into a dragon?" She suddenly stooped her shoulders a little. "Oh, ummm, not the best analogy."

Gobber gave her a sly grin. "Lassie, tha's a bucket 'o worms ya don't wanna stick yer hand into." At the unamused looks from everyone, he said, "Ah, nevermind. There's a reason I trudged up this hill. The council got together and, well…" he nervously drummed his fingers on his hook. "Ya see, yer a dragon…"

"Wow!" Toothless crowed sarcastically. "Good land-strider! Can say what eyes see! What more tricks you do? Sit, I give fish."

Gobber stared in shock at Toothless. "And Toothless… can talk?"

"Yes. No like. Dragons think, not speak. Land-striders speak, not think." He flicked a hand to indicate the obviousness of that statement, then once again became fascinated with the flexibility of his wrist. "Oh! Idea!" he gleefully shouted as he picked up a stick and threw it. "Fetch!"

"Uhhhh… yes…" Gobber drawled out.

"Back to business," Astrid said. "You said the council discussed what to do now that Hiccup is a dragon?"

Gobber straightened and said, "Yes. Ya see, Hiccup, yer our chief… but yer a dragon… and it ain't proper ta have our tribe led by a dragon."

"That… no like," Toothless said. "That… that…"

{Stupid?}

"Yes!" He looked at Gobber. "Stupid! That stupid. Much stupid. You stupid. They stupid."

The dragon groaned. {That's not helping.}

Gobber crossed his arms. "Now hold on just a moment, Hiccup– Err, I mean, Toothless…"

"Yes, me still Toothless. He still Firefly. You no make sense."

The blacksmith waved him off. "Listen, nothing's been set in stone yet, but if unanimous, the council can appoint a new chief if the current one is… unfit for duty."

"Now wait just a moment!" Astrid snapped. "You admitted yourself that Hiccup is whole, in your own words. How can you say…"

She drifted off as Gobber raised his good hand. "Now don't kill the messenger. I'm on yer side, bu' there's more ta the council than jus' me, and we need ta get the story straight from the horse' mouth. Err, the dragon's mouth." He sighed. "There is no way this ain't gonna be very awkward."

Nobody said anything. There was a lot of staring and little else.

Astrid finally broke the silence. "The council wants to hear his story, but you can't hear him, nor can Spitelout, Ack, or Phlegma. Gothi's a dragon whisperer, but she's a mute. Since I can hear Hiccup, I'll be his voice.

"But this is a meetin' wi' just the chief an' the rest o' the council," Gobber explained.

"And as the chief's wife, it is my right to sit with my husband."

"Yeah, well, do the gods want a woman ta be the wife of a dragon?"

Astrid hastily thrust her child into the arms of Toothless, who froze on the spot. She brandished her ax and Gobber took an uncertain step back, not out of fear for his life but out of surprise at the fire in her eyes.

Through grinding teeth, she said, "I think I misunderstood you. I thought I heard you suggest something that would cause us both to feel regret, but I've known you too long to expect that."

Firefly nuzzled her, and through the contact that Toothless shared, he could feel the waves of calming reassurance he was projecting to her.

Astrid huffed. "Tonight, then. And whether this is a peaceful meeting or a blood bath will depend on how people treat me and my husband."

She glared at Gobber, whose face returned to his normal disinterested half-scowl. With an air of indifference that even Toothless could tell was feigned, the blacksmith shrugged.

"Before or after nattmal?" Astrid asked.

"Mid-afternoon," Gobber said, "Back o' the Great Hall. We'll give ourselves a couple hours an' be done when everyone starts filin' in ta eat, keep it hush-hush."

Astrid exchanged a look with the dragon. "Fine."

Stormfly glided in to land and nuzzled Astrid who responded with a vigorous rub on the snout.

Gobber looked at the shield-maiden and her dragon, who were ignoring him, then at Firefly and Toothless, who were also awkwardly avoiding eye contact, and groused, "Knew this'd be awkward. Maybe this is all some strange dream and I'll wake up anytime."

"Ha!" Astrid snorted, eyes only for her dragon. "Maybe we can all just pretend nothing has happened and everything is as normal as can be."

Stormfly started to bob her head and flutter her wings at Firefly, then started snapping at him. It was a common ploy to provoke another dragon into some play-fighting, and she knew that Firefly needed more practice moving around in his body. Besides, the Night Fury and Nadder always enjoyed fighting each other.

Stormfly feigned an aggressive lunge, teeth bared, and the Night Fury responded by rolling onto his back to submit. She squawked indignantly at the blatant refusal to fight back and stomped in frustration. Toothless had to show his Firefly how it was done, so he charged at her, catching her leg with his shoulder to knock her down.

He ended up with his arms wrapped around her leg in a very awkward hug as she stared down at him with a confused chirp.

"Ya let me know how tha' goes, lassie," Gobber said with a chuckle as he turned and started walking back down the hill.